Sony Computer Entertainment’s Executive Vice President Phil Harrison is known for
giving interesting, and perhaps even controversial interviews. Harrison most
recently spoke to MTV,
and gave his views on his company’s main product, and that of a competitor’s.

When asked for his opinion on the PlayStation 3’s launch,
Harrison said, “2007 is the year of software, is how I'll answer that,” perhaps
acknowledging the lack of software for the new machine. He did go on to elaborate
that the aim for PlayStation 3 games is to break free from the old model of
buying a game, finishing it, and then never to play it again. “The video-game
business for the past 20 years was about shipping closed experiences,” he said.
The new trend, he hopes, is “the start of the relationship with the consumer is
when you launch the game … Next year you're going to see user-created
experiences in a number of interesting ways on PlayStation 3.”

Questioning then turned to Nintendo and its choice to
explore alternative means of inputs for gaming. Harrison said, “Nintendo
should be congratulated” for introducing a large number of non-gamers to
the industry though the Nintendo DS’s ease of control with the stylus and touch
screen. Without mentioning the Wii, he also acknowledged that 2006 is the year
of the motion controller.

On the topic of PlayStation capabilities, Harrison said that
it takes end-of-cycle games such as Gran
Turismo 2 for the PSone and God of
War II for the PS2 to full explore a system’s full potential. He believes
that the current PS3 launch titles use “less than half” of the system’s computational power,
but even more interesting is his bold statement that “Nobody will ever use 100
percent of its capability.” Whether he is implying that the PS3 has limitless
potential or that developers will never fully overcome the complexities of the
Cell architecture is unclear. In either case, gamers should expect better games
in 2007.

"So if you want to save the planet, feel free to drive your Hummer. Just avoid the drive thru line at McDonalds." -- Michael Asher